Thursday, January 22, 2009

Left wing agenda kills Formula 1

Delusional, ill-informed and overbearing; this is how I would characterize the hard left....and they just killed Formula 1.

The average Montrealer is a huge fan or Formula 1, or used to be, given that we no longer have a race but that aside, it is not difficult to be enamored with the sport. For many it's the machines; rockets packed with some of the world's most luxurious and powerful engines. For others it's the noise, the speed, the risk. Some enjoy the festivities that a race brings to the city and others simply like Montreal being at the centre of the world press for the week in which a Grand Prix is held.

But the hard left and its agenda has changed all that. Now, I wasn't pleased when I went to buy a bottle of wine at the liquor store and was told I had to pay extra for a plastic bag but I told myself, I could live with that. (Where this extra pay is actually going is a question left unanswered but I won't pursue it yet) Then, those of us who have houses, were made to buy a recycling bin at about 120 $, but I was able to live with that too. Why you ask? Because the things that I cherish the most in my life (alcohol is nice but it's not essential) were not being attacked by the cooks on the left. That's all changed now.

Formula 1 as a sport has had to undergo massive changes to their structure because of pressure from a delusional public, ideological governments and desperate corporations. The public have been made to believe that Formula 1 is destroying our planet, the governments act on this concern by pressuring Formula 1 executives to make changes or risk losing the chance to race in their countries and finally, Formula 1, being a sport dependent on massive investment, the corporations involved in the sport do not want to risk their brand being damaged and as a result acquiesce to these demands.

Now, let's go through for a minute what the hard left sees as so environmentally and socially damaging. They claim 1) that 20-22 cars travelling a distance of 300 km on average at speeds of up to 330 km/hr burn an excessive amount of fuel and that this is much too damaging to the environment. 2) that cigarette advertising should be banned completely and that there should be limits on the advertising of alcohol.

These two points represent the bulk of the complaints by the hard left and they don't even realize how delusional they are on both.

1) The obsession they have on the amount of fuel that is being consumed is misplaced. A 747 Jumbo Jet Airliner, burns more fuel on a trip from New York to London than Formula 1 does in an entire season. For clarity, I am referring to the entire sport of Formula 1, meaning every single car and for those who do not know, a Formula 1 season consists of 17-18 races a year and this number continues to rise. Ironically more and more races are being held in Asia and the Middle East, perhaps a sign of Formula 1's loss of patience with the mantra of the more Western nations. So the fact that Formula 1 is attacked by the hard left on this platform is ridiculous. Formula 1 is a sport, yes, but it is a business and it is a source of incredible revenue for those cities who are fortunate enough to hold a race. On this note, I move to the second point.

2) Many cried foul when Montreal lost the Grand Prix, claiming that the greedy executives of the sport cared simply about money and did not care about the loyal fan base that exists in the city. Local, provincial and federal governments tried to intervene but to no avail. This intervention coupled with public outrage makes me sick. The double standard is striking. On the one hand, Canada, along with another left wing nation like Belgium was the most vocal about banning cigarette advertising. Now, I won't get into how ridiculous the banning of cigarette advertising is in this post, but I need to reveal how hypocritical the public and the governments are in this matter. By banning cigarette advertising, Formula 1 teams and more importantly their sponsors, lose a great deal of revenue and are less likely to want to race in such a place where these sponsors are banned. And yet, the same governments are crying foul over the Formula 1 pullout of Montreal by suggesting the city will miss out on the biggest injection of revenue this country had in a given year. And what is more, the public are backing the government's efforts and are voicing their own discontent, ignorantly claiming that Formula 1 executives and the teams are just greedy and want more money. These are the same people who buy into the ban on plastic bags and who buy into the notion that if a plastic bottle is mistakenly thrown into the trash can; the world will turn into a fireball.

This left wing agenda has consumed and twisted the minds of the public and has made all levels of government seem completely incompetent in their decisions and public announcements.

Just as an added bonus, the team most vocal about a green revolution in Formula 1, Honda, has since pulled out of the sport.......

It saddens me that a sport and event that is loved by so many can be destroyed by a combination of lies, hype and exaggeration. I may have been born in Montreal and I may have loved Formula 1, but good riddance to the country, the city and to the fans because they have no one to blame but themselves for the loss of the Grand Prix. It was a long time coming.